*Boom*--

*Screech*---

There was an endless stream of air-breaking and rock-slab-shattering sounds.

In the martial arts field northwest of *Dragon Mansion*, a white-haired old man with tattoos on his face was sitting cross-legged, gritting his teeth and looking at a good-looking man in a bamboo hat fifty feet away from him.

"Why?!!"

Wu Chengzhou's voice contained a mix of confusion, anger, and disbelief.

The man took two steps to the right, and the next moment, countless blood-red spikes shot out without warning from the ground where he had just stood.

"Why can't I hit him!!!"

After Wu Chengzhou's question, the man with the bamboo hat pointed his sword finger and sent his spiritual energy into a charm.

*Boom*--

A bolt of lightning descended and hit Wu Chengzhou's body-protecting spirit shield.

This thunder spell seemed to be powerful, but in fact, it only left a palm-sized crack on the protective shield.

Immediately, Wu Chengzhou channeled his energy to restore the spirit shield as it was, then glared angrily and raised his hand.

"Die, damn it!!"

However, the moment he raised his hand, the man with the bamboo hat scurried forward ten feet.

*Boom*--

Countless illusory black holes suddenly appeared in the sky, and blood-colored chains shot out of them, leaving a three-foot-deep pit on the ground where he had just been.

Once again, the man in the bamboo hat used his spiritual energy to summon another lightning spell, which struck Wu Chengzhou's body-protecting spirit shield. Wu Chengzhou then injected spiritual energy into it and restored it to its original state.

Liang Zhu had lived for many years and had killed more powerful cultivators than he could count on both hands and feet, but this was the first time that he had been left speechless after fighting a demonic cultivator.

There was no deception, no tricks, and no powerful clash of spiritual energies.

It was simply a game of "you move, I move", just like playing chess.

The only difference with chess was that the rules of this game were not quite fair.

Wu Chengzhou could make countless mistakes, but for him, one mistake was all it took to lose his life.

However, he didn't think he would make a mistake. In the past, while on assassination missions in the ***Seven Slayers*** Sect, he could hold his breath at the bottom of a lake for seven days and seven nights and still be highly focused, looking for the right moment.

Avoiding Wu Chengzhou's tricks now was almost as easy as spilling water.

Even now, while dodging, he was still thinking: that Ye Anping was simply too crafty.

The formation he had set up with spiritual wooden stakes in the courtyard of *Jiang Mansion* was exactly the same as the one Wu Chengzhou had been using for half an hour.

If he were told now that Ye Anping had been a spirit in this *Core Formation* cultivator's mind who then became a human being, he would believe it without hesitation.

*Swish*---

Liang Zhu turned sideways and tilted his head as two bloody threads traced along the outline of his body. Then, he jumped up, made a split in the air, and dodged the countless blood spikes shot from below. Finally, he condensed his spiritual energy into a hand-sized shield that blocked a blood blade flying toward him that he didn't have time to dodge.

"Tsk..."

Liang Zhu glanced at Wu Chengzhou and felt a little annoyed. It was true that cultivators who specialized in spells were not very strong. And besides, this person was only a level higher than him, but somehow, he felt that this demonic cultivator's energy was extremely abundant.

If it went on like this, there might not even be an end in sight, even after two hours.

---Should he risk getting closer and try to solve it quickly?

Liang Zhu was a little hesitant, but after thinking about it, there was no need for him to fight so hard for Ye Anping's sake, so he gave up on the idea.

"Forget it. I'll just keep stalling until he comes and gets it done himself."

With that, he used another small spell to hit Wu Chengzhou's protective spirit shield.

*Boom*--

...

At the same time, on the roof of a three-story building about eight hundred feet away, three people wearing bamboo hats stared wordlessly at Liang Zhu dancing in the martial arts arena.

Feng Yu Die, who was carried on Pei Lianxue's shoulder, came to her senses and glanced at Ye Anping, "Young Master Ye... what is he doing?"

"Fighting."

"..."

Ye Anping was also dumbfounded. When he arrived with his sister and Feng Yu Die, he was quite worried.

After all, although he practiced with Liang Zhu for an afternoon and he also learned very fast, it remained true that "Wu Chengzhou could make countless mistakes, but for Liang Zhu, one mistake was all it took to lose his life."

As a result, once Liang Zhu had one slip-up, he would definitely be seriously injured.

But now, not to mention physical injuries, not even his clothes and bamboo hat were torn.

There was no doubt that Liang Zhu was like a fish in the water.

He had been 'dancing' fifty feet from Wu Chengzhou, and never once had he crossed that line.

Wu Chengzhou set up a total of twelve deadly formations around him. Each of them covered a different area, but within fifty feet of him, the ranges of the formations overlapped.

The closer he got to Wu Chengzhou, the higher the speed and attack of the deadly formations and the harder it was to dodge.

This Boss in the game was a time-limited Boss. As long as the player persisted, the closer he got, the faster Wu Chengzhou's spiritual energy was depleted. But when the time limit came, this was euphemistically called "Wu Chengzhou doesn't want to fight you anymore." In fact, Wu Chengzhou would self-destruct and, in the process, destroy the players.

In the game, after Wu Chengzhou blows himself up, the player needs to fight again. But this was the real world, and if he blew himself up, he would just die together with Liang Zhu.

"Young Master Ye, aren't we going to help?"

Ye Anping glanced at Feng Yu Die. "Do you want to go and dance?"

"No..." Feng Yu Die shrunk her neck. "Then, what should we do?"

"Wait. Soon, Wu Chengzhou will go crazy."

...

"Why is it that you brat can dodge every time? Why, why, why, why..."

The whispers that sounded like a broken record further annoyed Liang Zhu, who was already extremely irritated.

"Shut up! Stinky old man."

"Why, why, why..."

Looking at Wu Chengzhou's bloodshot eyes, Liang Zhu suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. While avoiding the bloody blades coming toward him, he looked for an opportunity to retreat.

And just when he took five steps back, suddenly...

*Boom*--

A red light shot into the sky.

In an instant, the potholed terrain of the martial arts training ground began to twist and turn as if it had turned into a tsunami.

Countless tentacles like skinned octopuses emerged from the ground and attacked Liang Zhu with overwhelming force.

The smell of blood filled the entire training ground.

Liang Zhu's eyes widened in horror.

"What the hell??"

Ye Anping didn't tell him there was such a trick.

No matter how he looked at it, it was not something he could just dodge away.

However, he soon regained his senses, took out a stone bowl from his storage bag, and threw it into the sky. Then, he formed a dharma seal with his hands.

*Dong Dong*---

The sound of the bell shook the surrounding area, and the stone bowl thrown into the air became a hundred times larger, with a dazzling golden light covering its surface. Then, it went down, and Liang Zhu was locked inside.

The next moment, those skinned octopus-like tentacles slammed against the bowl, but they couldn't even shake it.

"Why!!! You brat!!! Ahhhh-!"

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the martial arts training ground, Wu Chengzhou ground the few teeth in his mouth to pieces and then was entangled and tightened by countless tentacles around him.

The next moment, a bloody mouth emerged from the ground, swallowing Wu Chengzhou and all the creatures and debris within a hundred feet around him, then sank back and vanished.

After the mouth disappeared, only yellow soil and a golden stone bowl were left in the martial arts training ground.